Traveler
by R.D.W
Summary: Smallville is turned upside-down when a travelling salesman comes to town. This is no ordinary salesman though, this one sells wishes. How would the lives of the main characters change after they've made their wishes? **Chapter 3 is Up**
1. Downpour

"Traveler"  
  
Original Smallville Fanfiction  
  
By Rich Wheeler  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything else Smallville related, the WB does. Just using them in my own way to make a (hopefully) decent story.  
  
Chapter 1: Downpour  
  
The hottest heat wave in fifty years has hit Smallville, but on the Kent farm work must go on. Clark Kent has been busy with his chores, he's repaired the partially collapsed roof of the barn in seconds and now he and his father, Jonathan Kent, are working on fixing an old, broke down tractor. Clark holds the back of the tractor up with ease as Jonathan works on it from underneath. "Alright, Clark, looks like I'm going to have to go into town and buy that part for this old hunk of junk." Jonathan says as he gets out from under the tractor.  
  
"Hey, I'll go with you, I could use a break." Clark says as he puts the tractor back down.  
  
"Wow...it sure is hot out, even you're sweating." Jonathan says. A moment after Jonathan says that, Martha Kent comes out of the house with two large glasses of lemonade for them.  
  
"Thought my hard working boys could use one of these on a day like this." Martha says, handing a glass of lemonade to each of them. "Can you believe this heat?" Martha asks.  
  
"We were just talking about that, weather man said it was fifty years ago the last time Smallville saw a heat wave like this." Jonathan says.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be a sudden downpour any time now." Clark says.  
  
"Don't count on it...come on, Clark, we better get to town now so we can get back with enough time to finish working on this old timer." Jonathan says.  
  
"Alright dad, thanks for the lemonade mom." Clark says as he follows Jonathan to the truck.  
  
"Don't worry about it, have fun." Martha says, watching them get in and drive away. Within a few minutes, the Kent's pull into town and park the truck on the street beside a mechanic's garage. The two get out, Jonathan heads into the garage while Clark stands still with his hands in his pockets looking around.  
  
"I'll only be a few minutes, so don't wander off too far." Jonathan says.  
  
"Alright, dad." Clark says, thinking it wouldn't really matter because he could run back home faster than Jonathan could drive. Clark looks down the sidewalk and sees Chloe and Pete walking towards him.  
  
"Well if it isn't our good friend, Clark Kent." Chloe says.  
  
"Hey guys, are you enjoying our wonderful Saturday afternoon?" Clark asks sarcastically.  
  
"Enjoying? Wonderful? I'm about ready to move to Antarctica, be one with the Eskimos." Chloe replies.  
  
"And the penguins..." Clark starts.  
  
"You'd fit in perfectly." Pete says cracking up. The three walk down the sidewalk, passing up several sweating, uncomfortable people. As they walk, Pete passes up a girl he's had a crush on forever. He stops, and decides to talk to her. "Uh...Julie? Hi...I'm Pete, you know me right?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, I know you." Julie responds.  
  
"So, what are you doing tonight...or tomorrow, or next week?" Pete asks nervously.  
  
"Um...right, Pete...I'm going to be busy, for a long, long time. Sorry." Julie says as she walks away.  
  
"Oh...well that's alright, maybe I can talk to you later?" Pete says to Julie as she walks out of sight, pretty much ignoring him. Pete puts his head down and walks back to Clark and Chloe.  
  
"That was harsh..." Chloe starts.  
  
"Sorry, Pete, but don't worry...that girl isn't right for you anyway." Clark says.  
  
"Thanks, Clark...but Julie is so...wow." Pete says.  
  
"Well, you better start wishing, Pete, cause you don't have a chance with that stuck up Miss Popular...and I mean that in a good way, I think." Chloe says.  
  
"Yeah...I better." Pete says. The three continue their walk, trying to stay in the shade wherever they can find it. Pete lifts his head back up after more walking and not a whole lot of talking between the three. He looks to his left, across the street, and sees an odd man in a purple suit and hat strolling down the sidewalk with an umbrella in his hand and a strange smirk on his face. "Hey...you see that guy?" Pete says, at the man.  
  
"What guy?" Chloe asks. Pete looks back across the street...the man is gone.  
  
"There was a weird looking guy right over there...a second ago." Pete says, looking around for him. The three keep walking until they turn a corner, there, the man sits on a bench in the shade looking from side to side at all the sweating, miserable townsfolk...still with that smile on his face. "There he is...but, how did he get over...there?"  
  
"Boy he sure sticks out, especially with that umbrella." Chloe says as the three watch him from about fifteen feet away.  
  
"Yeah, wonder who he is?" Clark says. The man stays put, and overhears a conversation between a group of guys a short distance away about the extreme heat. The man in the purple suit stands up and approaches them.  
  
"Ah...heat got you down?" The man asks.  
  
"Hey...now just who are you to butt into our conversation?" One of the sweating, complaining men asks.  
  
"Me? Oh, I'm many things, but at the moment I'm a bit of a salesman, came here from Scottsdale just a few hours ago." The salesman says.  
  
"Well, how about you sell me a fan, or a bottle of water, or else you can just go on back there and get out of my sight." The sweating man says.  
  
"I can do you one better...what would you say if I told you I could make this heat wave go away?" The salesman asks.  
  
"I'd think you're a crazy old man." The sweating man says.  
  
"I am a salesman...but I don't sell your typical trinkets, I sell...wishes." The salesman says.  
  
"Haha...that's funny, this old man's gone senile, get him to a nursing home or something." The sweating man scoffs.  
  
"Did you hear that guy?" Chloe says as they continue to watch the conversation.  
  
"Yeah, wishes? Gimme a break." Pete says. Clark remains silent, stricken with curiosity.  
  
"I know it's a bit hard to believe at first, but it's true. I sell wishes, and all you have to do is tell me your wish...and give me your payment." The salesman says.  
  
"Hey! Jack! Get a load of this guy! Says he's some kind of genie or something!" The sweating man yells to his friend down the road, who immediately walks towards him to find out what's going on.  
  
"Not a genie, a salesman." The salesman says.  
  
"What now? Don't tell me we've got another crazy old man on our hands." Jack says. More people start to take notice and head over to see what all the commotion is about.  
  
"Heh...oh man, alright salesman, I'll buy one wish. What's the price?" The sweating man asks.  
  
"A few weeks, a month, maybe two." The salesman replies.  
  
"What do you mean?" The sweating man asks.  
  
"I'll grant you your wish if you let me borrow a bit of your life span...about oh, let's say one month." The salesman says.  
  
"I'm sick of calling you crazy you old fool, so yeah...I'll make a wish, just to prove you wrong." The sweating man says.  
  
"You won't be doing that...now, what's your wish?" The salesman asks.  
  
"I think the whole town would agree with me on this one...I wish for this heat to go away, maybe get a little rain." The sweating man replies.  
  
"Your wish is my command, sir." The salesman says as he takes a couple steps backwards, opens his umbrella and holds it over his head. Moments pass...there's nothing, everyone small hope that this guy might be for real is shattered. They start walking away disappointed.  
  
"Crazy old man..." The sweating man says walking away with the others.  
  
"Guess he's no genie." Chloe says.  
  
"Yeah, I guess..." Clark starts, but ends his sentence when a drop of rain drops on his shoulder, then more drops fall all over. Everyone is taken by surprise, and after a moment of disbelief, they celebrate in the streets as the large raindrops cool them off. The sweating man turns around and looks at the smiling salesman, completely dry because of the umbrella. The man looks stunned, like several other people in the area. The salesman winks at him and begins to walk away.  
  
"What's going on?!" Pete yells with confusion mixed with excitement.  
  
"I don't know...but I like it!" Chloe says. Jonathan Kent runs around the corner holding a paper bag from the mechanic's.  
  
"Clark!" Jonathan starts, not knowing what to make of the situation.  
  
"...Don't as me, dad." Clark says. The people rejoice in the rain, including Chloe and Pete, even Jonathan cracks a smile. Clark walks over to the bench where the salesman was sitting, his business card has been left there, it reads: "One Wish for One Month-The Salesman". Clark takes it over to Jonathan to show him, he looks at it and despite the rain, crumples it up and throws it on the ground. He and Clark hurry back to the truck before getting any more wet. The business card lies on the ground, crumpled up...but then somehow molds back to its original condition. 


	2. New Smallville

"Traveler" Chapter 2: New Smallville  
  
Clark Kent wakes up, early in the morning. He takes a few moments to gather his thoughts...then remembers the rain, and that odd salesman. "What a weird dream." He thinks. He forces himself to get up after a few minutes, then walks towards the kitchen. He rubs his eyes and yawns as he opens the fridge, and takes out the orange juice, then walks over to the window, drinking right out of the carton, something he's often scolded for. He peeks out through the blinds, then starts to walk away still drinking. Then, he stops, slowly puts down the orange juice...and walks back towards the window. He pulls the blinds open and gasps...he can see mansions and tall buildings sporting the LexCorp logo, brand new sports cars in people's garages. These giant houses and buildings now surround his small farm away from town...what's going on? "M-mom...dad...dad!" He starts...still shocked.  
  
Martha comes out, yawning...followed by Jonathan. "Clark...what is it?" Martha Kent asks.  
  
"Look...look outside...what's happened?" Clark asks in total confusion. Martha and Jonathan look out the window, they don't seem shocked at all.  
  
"Just what is it that you wanted us to see?" Jonathan asks.  
  
"What are you talking about? Didn't you see? All those houses and buildings and sports cars...where'd Smallville go?" Clark asks, desperate for answers.  
  
"Clark...I think you need to go back to bed, maybe some more sleep will do you good." Jonathan says. Clark takes a deep breath, starting to let out another sentence that might help his confusion...but he stops himself and takes a few steps backwards. He opens the front door and runs down the few concrete stairs. Clark walks slowly away from the farm, looking at all that has changed in amazement and disbelief. In a flash he bolts down one road, then another, until he reaches the home of Lana Lang. He stares at her front door, than looks over to the windows, taking a few steps back. He gets to her front door and raises his arm to knock...but the door opens, and Lana stands there with a smile.  
  
"Hey, Clark...pretty early, what are you doing here?" Lana asks.  
  
"Lana...do you know what's going on?" Clark asks.  
  
"What do you mean?" Lana asks, having no idea what he's talking about.  
  
"This...the town, look at the streets...don't you see?" Clark asks, praying for Lana to tell him something he doesn't know. Lana looks out behind Clark, she sees everything he does, then she looks back at him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Clark. I don't know what you want me to see." Lana says. Clark's shoulders slump down in disappointment, he stares into Lana's eyes...looking for something, but he doesn't find it. A moment later...someone come into the doorway, standing by Lana. Clark doesn't know for sure who it is, but it's a woman, looks to be in her late 30's.  
  
"Sorry I can't help you Clark...maybe my mom can." Lana says.  
  
"What is it, Clark?" The woman, Lana's mother, asks. Clark's eyes widen and jaw drops...he's speechless. Clark starts walking backwards, away from the Lang house.  
  
"Clark...where are you going?" Lana asks.  
  
"I have...I have to go, Lana." Clark says as he walks faster and faster away from Lana's.  
  
An hour has passed, Clark has covered the town inch by inch, nothing is the same. What's clear is that the sign of the Luthor's can be found almost anywhere, Clark has so many questions. He walks down a long street, lined with several new stores and businesses. He passes a newspaper stand and sees the Metropolis Daily Planet, with the front page article written by none other than Chloe Sullivan. Clark shakes his head, then keeps walking. He comes across a movie theater, one that has been closed for as long as he can remember, but is now restored to it's original beauty and booming with business. Banners all around the theater advertise the world premiere of a new movie, called "Max Black in: Danger Down Under" starring...Pete Ross. Clark looks at the poster; Pete is in a black tuxedo holding a gun up near his face, with several ladies around him in tight pants. Clark keeps walking with his hands in his pockets, waiting for the moment when he wakes up and realizes none of  
this is real. More streets are passed through, all run by LuthorCorp. Clark has to get to Lex...he must know something. As he begins to head towards the Luthor Ancestral Home, which he prays is still there, a black limousine pulls to the curb just ahead of him. The driver opens the passenger door near the end of the limo, and out steps Pete, wearing very expensive clothes, accompanied by several girls all giggling and touching him. "And just last night, even I, Pete Ross, couldn't get a table at that Jubilee restaurant. So, naturally I bought the place...I'm having it destroyed next week, let that be a lesson to anyone else who tells me they can't get me a table." Pete says.  
  
"Oh, Pete, you're so sexy!" A giggling blonde says.  
  
"I know, Charlotte, I know." Pete replies as they start to walk into a large building. Clark runs up to Pete, but is pushed back by one of his bodyguards.  
  
"Just who are you?! You can't just run up here like you're Mr. Ross's best friend! Get out of here!" The bodyguard yells.  
  
"No...I am his best friend! Pete! It's Clark!" Clark yells. Pete slowly turns around, he dips down his shades so he can get a better look. He walks towards Clark slowly.  
  
"Sorry, I can't sign any autographs right now, as you can see I'm very busy." Pete says.  
  
"What? No...I don't want an autograph Pete, I want to know what's going on. What happened to you?" Clark asks.  
  
"I'm sorry...do we know each other, if I met you at another random party I'm sorry, so many people approach me at those things...faces are hard to remember." Pete says.  
  
"Pete...it's me, Clark...you know me!" Clark says.  
  
"I'm sorry, but come by the premiere tonight and I'll be sure to sign a T-shirt or something." Pete says as he walks back to his ladies.  
  
"Pete! Come on! You know me! Don't do this!" Clark yells, trying to get back up to Pete...but is pushed away by the bodyguards. Clark sits on the curb, several minutes pass. "He didn't remember me?" Clark says over and over in his mind, he needs answers. Clark lifts his head up and sees another very tall building with the LuthorCorp logo on it. "Lex..." Clark starts as he gets up, and heads for Lex's home. He starts to speed off...but reminds himself Smallville is now too big, and someone is likely to see him...so, he walks.  
  
He arrives at the Luthor Ancestral Home not too long later, he walks along side the steel gates of the giant house. Clark gets to the front gate...he can't squeeze through this time; several guards stand just feet away. "Alright...who are you, kid?" A guard asks.  
  
"My name's Clark Kent, I need to see Lex." Clark replies.  
  
"I don't think so...he's busy at the moment, so how about coming back some other time?" The guard says.  
  
"It's important...I really need..." Clark starts, but is interrupted by the guard.  
  
"Look, kid...Mr. Luthor is a busy man, if you want to see him you can come back some other time! Now if you don't leave in the next five seconds I'll throw you out of here!" The guard yells.  
  
"It's okay, Max...let him in, he's a friend of mine." Lex says, coming out of the house. The guard grumbles and opens the gate, letting Clark in. Clark follows Lex, who grabs the latest Daily Planet from a side table and reads it as he walks. "That Chloe Sullivan...she's a real go-getter isn't she? Already reporting front cover news for the Daily Planet." Lex says.  
  
"Lex..." Clark starts.  
  
"I know why you're here, Clark. Seems like everyone and everything has changed except for you." Lex says, stopping after walking up a few stairs to his large office.  
  
"Yes...you know! You know what's happening, don't you?" Clark says with enthusiasm.  
  
"Of course I do. In a nutshell a travelling genie came to town and made everyone's wishes come true, they woke up this morning as if they've been living the life they described they wanted in their wishes all along. I watched the whole thing...everyone crowding around, so eager to trade bits of their old lives away for brand new ones. I'm sure you've noticed the changes in your friends, Clark." Lex says.  
  
"Yeah...I've noticed. Lana...her mom came to the door, and Chloe writing for the Daily Planet and Pete...Pete, he didn't even know me." Clark says.  
  
"No he did not, Pete wished for fame and fortune...he got it, he woke up a giant movie star. Of course he's now too busy and preoccupied with his new life that he can't remember anything from his previous one, he can't remember you or Chloe, he's a new Pete. You know...almost everyone wanted in their wishes that they never came across that salesman...that way they won't regret it later on, but not me." Lex says.  
  
"You...Lex you made a wish too?" Clark asks.  
  
"Yes, Clark...I made a wish." Lex says. 


	3. Answers

"Traveler" Chapter 3: Answers  
  
"What was it?" Clark asks curiously...but worried about what he might say.  
  
"You know I've always said Smallville had potential, always, not any of my colleagues thought the same. My father gave me Smallville to stretch my legs and show him just exactly what his son can do. As you can see...I've stretched my legs quite a bit, don't you think?" Lex says.  
  
"Lex...no. This isn't right, you've got to stop this...this town, it's a part of everyone...you can't..." Clark says but is interrupted by Lex.  
  
"Part of everyone? If this town was so important to everyone they wouldn't of wished for different lives. You've seen it, Clark...all those mansions and rich people, that's what they voted for. I've realized that you can take any man and offer him a better life and they'll accept, even if it means radically changing it." Lex says.  
  
"Not me...no, not me Lex. So what? You wished to turn Smallville into a junior metropolis?" Clark asks.  
  
"Haha...no, but that kind of came with it. My wish was for my father to know exactly what I am capable of...now I own this city, and LuthorCorp. Soon I'll have the world, Clark...I'll have everything." Lex says.  
  
"What are you saying, Lex? This is insane!" Clark yells.  
  
"Everyone woke up today different, Clark, everyone." Lex says.  
  
"I didn't, I'm going to stop this." Clark says, starting to walk away.  
  
"Oh and by the way...in my new position I've realized that the right information can come quite easily if you want it. You're hiding something, Clark Kent...but don't think you can for long." Lex says with a smile. Clark keeps going without saying anything else; soon he is out of the Luthor Ancestral Home and heading somewhere far away where he can clear his head.  
  
The next morning, nothing changed; Clark prayed for it to be at least a little like the Smallville he remembered just two days earlier when he woke up, but it was not. Jonathan, Martha and him sit at the breakfast table. Clark has a bowl of Corn Flakes in front of him, but he's not eating them. Clark remembered reading an article from a woman who had just recovered from a coma she was in for over five years. She said it was like a dream that you just couldn't wake up from, maybe that's what this is, Clark thought. The Kent farm didn't look different on first glance, but Clark had learned of the brand new farm equipment and all the debt vanishing. He would have never thought they, his parents, would take the easy way out. "Something wrong, Clark?" Martha Kent asks, looking across the table at him.  
  
"Everything." Clark says under his breath.  
  
"What?" Martha asks.  
  
"(Sigh) Nothing, Mom, everything is great." Clark says, realizing now that this is definitely not a terrible joke his parents played on him.  
  
"So, son...another day of no school. What are you thinking about doing?" Jonathan says, reading the paper.  
  
"I'm...not sure, dad...I think I need some fresh air, maybe I'll take a walk." Clark says, getting up and grabbing his jacket.  
  
"...Alright, have a...nice walk then, Clark." Martha says, curious of her son's unusual attitude.  
  
"A walk?" Jonathan says, somewhat confused. Martha shrugs her shoulders and takes Clark's cereal bowl to the sink.  
  
Clark walks again; early in the morning with his hands in his pockets, down another drastically changed street. He passes a bank and then turns down and alley. He stops and leans his back upon the wall. His eyes remain in one spot, focused, like he is in deep thought. Then, at the end of the alley, a black van with tinted windows pulls up. The side door slides open and three, large men dressed in black step out. Clark's not sure who they are, but he doesn't have a good feeling about them as they walk towards him, slowly. "We're looking for a guy named Kent, Clark Kent...you wouldn't happen to know where we could find him now could you?" One of the thugs asks.  
  
"Looks like you found him, I'm Clark Kent." Clark says moving away from the wall and standing tall only a few feet from them. The men stare at him for a few moments, and then one reaches into his jacket and pulls out a black bat, another has a chain and the last has a switchblade. Clark tries not to smile, he's not scared or anything like that, he just wants a different feeling, something other than confusion or anger...some excitement. "Now what are you guys planning on doing with those?" Clark asks, carefree.  
  
"We were thinking of rearranging that pretty face of yours, how's that sound?" The large man in the middle of the other two asks.  
  
"I think you better turn around, because you don't stand a chance." Clark says, provoking them. In an instant, the man with the black bat lunges towards Clark and swings at him, but Clark easily avoids it. Clark begins to laugh as the man swings, not able to hit him. Clark darts around the large man, leaving him perplexed. The man takes begins to take another swing, he raises it high...Clark speeds behind him and grabs it. "Pretty far from the baseball field, buddy." Clark says as he snaps it in two with ease. The man starts to back off, but then runs at Clark in a rampage. Clark grabs him, lifts him high up, and throws him at the other two men. They tumble to the ground, Clark laughs. "That's the best you've got?"  
  
The man with the chain gets to his feet and runs at Clark, swinging it wildly. Clark grabs his arm and takes the chain, then whips it at the man's leg, causing him to fall back to the ground. Clark turns around and the man with the switchblade attempts to stab him, but the blade snaps. The man throws it to the ground and tries punching Clark, which nearly breaks his hand. Clark grabs him, and tosses him twenty feet away; sending him onto the black van the three pulled up in. The top of the van caves in and the windshield and side-windows shatter.  
  
Clark looks at the three, two of them on the ground hurting, the other on the van hurting even more. Clark thinks for a moment about what his father would say, but then he thinks about how everything else has changed, so why can't he? Clark begins walking away, out of the alley with his hands back in his pockets...feeling slightly better. But just above, on the steel stairs scaling the side of one of the buildings, a man in a trench coat kneels, holding a camera with a large zoom lens attached. He moves the camera away from his face after taking the last few shots of the action. He has a puzzled look on his face, but then smiles as he looks back at the camera and holds it like a check for a million dollars.  
  
Clark walks down a busy sidewalk lined with restaurants and stores. He passes an electronics store with several TV's stacked up on top of each other in the display window, all with the same sports channel on. Clark stops to watch a bit of it, and sees the ending of a big football game. The players are heading back to their lockers, and a man with a microphone stops one of them, that is, THE one...Whitney Fordman, all star quarterback. Whitney takes off his helmet to answer a few questions. "I'm standing here with the Metropolis Shark's MVP, and NFL favorite, Whitney Fordman. Now, Whitney...how does it feel exactly to be you right now?" The interviewer asks.  
  
"It's hard to describe, it really is. I'm always happy to win big games like this one, and I'm always happy when my team plays as good as they did today, but even if we lost I would still be happy...it's just so great to be here and to be playing with such a great team." Whitney replies. Clark doesn't watch anymore, he walks away down the street thinking about how hard Whitney must have had to work to be quarterback for the sharks...yeah right.  
  
He stops on the street corner and takes a deep breath. Sirens are heard in the distance, Clark looks down the road and can see the flashing lights coming as the noise gets louder. A black sports car flies down the road, ignoring the red light, with the squad cars close behind. Someone is nearly run over, and several cars and street signs are hit. Clark watches the chase continue down another street. He carefully speeds through a vacant alley and then another, following the chase closely. The black sports car passes through the park, nearly injuring several frightened people.  
  
It doesn't slow down; soon it crosses into on coming traffic to avoid the traffic jam. Police continue, but run into problems with the man's driving skill. Clark weaves in and out of alleys and all around the area, looking for an opportunity to end the chase. A large semi-truck pulls out onto the road only about ten yards ahead of the man in the black sports car. The man slams down on the breaks and looses all control. The car spins and when it's right side lifts up it runs into a building and rotates high in the air. Clark watches the car as it starts to fall back down to the ground. Then, he spots the odd salesman in the purple suit standing dangerously close to the car's potential landing spot. The salesman doesn't move though, he stands and watches in the midst of smashed cars, scared and angry people and a giant traffic jam. Clark has no choice but to save him before he is crushed.  
  
He jets towards him in a flash and moves him out of the way just before the black car lands just where he was standing and flips over, completely broken down. Clark and the salesman lay in a vacant lot between two buildings; Clark gets to his feet and extends his hand to help the salesman up as well. The salesman takes it and is pulled up. The salesman doesn't let go for several moments, he looks into Clark's eyes and then a strange smirk appears on his face. "Thank you, young man." The salesman says, letting go of Clark's hand.  
  
"Um...no problem." Clark says, not sure what the man now knows about him.  
  
"I must say, that was quite something. You know, I would have been just fine without your kind assistance, but I accept it." The salesman says.  
  
"(Sigh) Look, it's kind of a secret I've been keeping...the thing I just did, and I..." Clark starts.  
  
"You don't have to worry about me telling anyone, they're all too preoccupied with their new lives to care. Clark Kent...I know who you are, what you are. I know all about you now, I know everything." The salesman says.  
  
"Well...I doubt you know everything, but I'm sure..." Clark starts, but is interrupted.  
  
"I know you still don't accept your gifts, and that you still have a desire to be normal. Just say the word, Mr. Kent." The salesman says.  
  
"Say what word?" Clark asks, even though he knows what the man means.  
  
"If you want to be normal...I can help. You know who I am, and what my special talents are. So just wish, Clark...simple as that." The salesman says.  
  
"No...no, I would never. You may think I'm like everyone else, but I'm not." Clark protests.  
  
"(Laughing) Of course I know your not like everyone else, Mr. Kent. I've know all your secrets and thoughts, you can't lie to me. You want to be different; you want to be normal. Think about it, you won't have to hide anything from your friends and run off to help someone because you feel you have to. Don't worry, you'll remember this day, this moment...and you can always come find me and wish you were back to your original self if you change your mind." The salesman says. Clark looks down to the ground, in deep thought. Moments later he lifts his head back up and looks at the salesman.  
  
That night, at the Luthor Ancestral Home...Lex stands in his study drinking a glass of white wine. He's sets down the glass and picks up a white envelope that came into his possession about an hour earlier. He's opened the envelope, he's observed the contents of it several times, very carefully, and he finds himself doing it again. Lex calmly takes the pictures out of the envelope again and examines them. The first one shows Clark throwing one of the street thugs high into the air, another shows the attempted stabbing and another showing Clark whizzing around the man with the bat in a blur. A small smile crosses Lex's face as he continues to look at the pictures, then he sets them back down on the desk and takes another sip of the wine. 


End file.
